31.10.2024

Apple fulfills censorship demands from Roskomnadzor in less than 4 hours

More than 90 VPN apps have been removed by Apple upon the request of Russian censorship over the course of this year. The new removal happened tonight and the censorship was enforced in a matter of hours.
Amnezia VPN application has disappeared from the Russian AppStore. Developers were notified by Apple at midnight, and in the morning the app was already unavailable for Russian users. According to tests by the AppleCensorship project, the app became unavailable after 3.36 or sooner. This is another confirmation of how lightning-fast Apple is in fulfilling censors' demands. For companies whose apps are removed, there is no time or opportunity to challenge the requests of the Russian authorities.
Amnezia VPN — is one of the most stable and effective VPNs working in Russia, Iran and other countries where VPN protocols are monitored and blocked by authorities. It is an open source solution that allows users to create their own VPN that is as secure and private as possible. It has a special protocol that hides traffic and prevents it from being blocked.
In early September 2024, a large coalition of human rights organisations, media and vpn-services addressed Apple with an open letter, showing how the removal of VPNs from the Russian AppStore contradicts the principles of human rights and freedoms. The letter is still unanswered.
Russian authorities, who have imposed military censorship in the country, are demanding the removal of VPNs and other anti-censorship solutions based on that they help people access websites blocked in Russia. Under Russia's military censorship websites of independent media, NGOs and major global platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, X and other sources of information independent of the authorities have been blocked.
Apple is assisting the Russian authorities in providing censorship events, and does it in a matter of hours, without detailed consideration of the issue, and without the right to appeal or protest.
Sarkis Darbinyan, expert of RKS Global:
“Apple shows uncovered collaborationism in its interaction with Russian authorities seeking to completely deny access for Russians to independent information through technical censorship tools.

Apple claims to have a strong focus on human rights and privacy in its operations. However, the specific Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) process is not described in available sources. We do not know the exact details of the company's HRIA process, which are not publicly disclosed. Clearly, these processes should be disclosed and we urge the company to listen to human rights organizations and stop its actions from causing devastating damage to human rights in Russia, which are already facing difficult times”.
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